Bike lanes dangerous, cyclists warn

NSW spends less per person on cycling than any other state,
resulting in cycleways that were poorly planned and often
dangerous, bike lobby groups warned yesterday as the Government
denied that under-used bicycle lanes were a waste of money.

The motoring group NRMA has accused the Iemma Government of
wasting millions of dollars on building cycleways that attract few
cyclists, including a new bicycle lane on the choked Epping Road,
which the NRMA says will in effect cost $300,000 for every cyclist
who uses it.

A $60 million cycleway was also built next to the Westlink M7,
but cycling groups say it is barely used because of its
location.

A BikeSydney spokeswoman, Fiona Campbell, said the Government
had an "opportunistic" view of cycleways and expanded them where it
was easy to build, rather than where they were needed or
wanted.

"This government builds things but not with the intention of
them actually being used," Ms Campbell said. "NSW is lagging so far
behind the rest of Australia and the Western world that Sydney is
often described as the worst place to cycle."

Figures compiled by the Greens show NSW will spend $7.6 million
- or $1.20 per capita - this year on "bicycle-specific programs".
This compares with $3.16 per capita in Queensland, $4.93 in Western
Australia and $3.89 in Victoria.

The Cycling Promotion Fund said Paris, London and New York had
ambitious bicycle infrastructure projects to ease congestion and
promote a sustainable urban environment, but Sydney lagged behind
in its cycle programs.

Despite claiming to be pro-bike, the Iemma Government has no
plans to replace the general manager of the bicycles and pedestrian
branch of the Roads and Traffic Authority, sacked by Michael Costa
when he was roads minister.

The Greens MP Lee Rhiannon said the NRMA had an agenda to
redirect funding away from cycleways in favour of road building.
"The NRMA's anti-cycleway campaign is a crude attempt to boost
money for road building. It's time the NRMA leadership came into
the 21st century and recognised that encouraging more cyclists is
an easy way to reduce road congestion," Ms Rhiannon said.

"The NRMA's submission to the RTA is grossly misleading. Half of
the M2 cycleway has been removed and the Epping Road cycleway has
not been completed so it is not surprising that bike use is so low
on those routes."

"Cycling in parts of Sydney can be extremely dangerous because
there is no integrated network of cyclepaths," she said.

A spokesman for the RTA said: "The RTA takes a balanced
approached to providing for the needs of all road users, including
cyclists, motorists and public transport users. There are now more
than 3900 kilometres of cycleway in NSW.

"There has been an average of 233 kilometres of cycling
facilities provided each year, and more than $291 million committed
towards bicycle programs by the NSW Government, since 1999."